Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff from her Department are based in India.
Answered by Greg Hands
On 31 October 2023 there were 13 UK Based Staff and 90 Country Based Staff working for the Department for Business and Trade located in India.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to support pubs.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
We understand the many challenges pubs are facing. The Government is supporting pubs with business rates relief, the Brexit Pubs Guarantee, and help with energy costs. We are also working across Government to identify opportunities to ease regulatory and licensing burdens.
We continue to work with businesses, including members of the Hospitality Sector Council, to deliver our 2021 Hospitality Strategy, which aims to support the sector's recovery from COVID-19 and improve longer term resilience.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2023 to Question 197616 on Post Offices, whether her Department has (a) made an assessment of and (b) had discussions with relevant stakeholders on the future of the Crown Post Office branch in Great Underbank Stockport.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Government sets the parameters for Post Office to operate in and asks its management to be responsible for running the company day-to-day. Post Office therefore has the freedom to make commercial decisions regarding the composition of its network, providing it fulfils the Government-set access criteria, which ensure that, for example, 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a post office.
Matters relating to individual post office branches are the responsibility of Post Office, not the Department for Business and Trade.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to issue a waiver to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in the context of the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with the Republic of India.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In negotiations with India, as with all our trading partners, the UK’s approach to intellectual property (IP) is to strike a balance between rewarding research, innovation and creativity, which can benefit all countries, whilst ensuring that medicines remain affordable and reflecting wider public interests, such as access to and use of IP on reasonable terms.
The UK considers the TRIPS Agreement as an essential tool to achieve this balance, including our support for flexibilities enshrined in the Agreement.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent progress her Department has made in negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the Republic of India.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We are continuing to negotiate with India to secure a comprehensive and ambitious trade deal.
Round 12 of negotiations concluded on 31 August. While visiting India for the G20 Trade Ministers meeting on 24-26 August, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade met with India’s Ministers for Commerce and Finance. They discussed how to make meaningful progress in this complex next phase of talks, which is focused on goods, services, and investment.
The Prime Minister also met with Prime Minister Modi on 9 September while at the G20 Summit. They reaffirmed their joint commitment to work at pace towards an ambitious deal.
The next round will be later this month.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans she has for the future of the Crown Post Office estate.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Government sets the parameters for Post Office to operate in and asks its management to be responsible for running the company day-to-day. Post Office therefore has the freedom to make commercial decisions regarding the composition of its network, providing it fulfils the Government-set access criteria, which ensure that, for example, 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a post office.
Post Office CEO, Nick Read, has been clear that it’s the business’ ambition to operate the network on a fully franchised basis in time. Directly Managed Branches (also known as Crown branches) represent around 1% of the Post Office network.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of people on zero hours contracts in Stockport constituency.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Zero hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market. They are useful where there is not a constant demand for staff, allowing flexibility for both employers and individuals – like carers, people studying, or retirees. For some, a zero hours contract may be the type of contract which works best for them.
Individuals on zero hours contracts represent a very small proportion of the workforce. The ONS estimates that 122,000 people aged 16 and over were employed on a zero hours contract in North West England in January – March 2023, representing 3.5% of people in employment in the area.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when her Department first became aware of the use of racial classifications on official documents used by Post Office staff investigating postmasters.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
We can find no evidence that the Department was aware of this issue prior to the press reports on 27th May 2023.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions she has had with the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers on working conditions for retail workers.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) are a part of the Retail Sector Council where challenges faced by the retail sector are considered. Employment has been identified as a priority area for the Council.
There has been no recent engagement with USDAW specifically on working conditions for retail workers.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2023 to Question 183602 on Overseas Trade: India, if he will make an estimate of the number of jobs that have been created in Greater Manchester as a result of the UK-India investment relationship.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Official Statistics on inward investment at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/department-for-international-trade-inward-investment-results-2021-to-2022 contain details on the number of jobs created from Foreign Direct Investment from India in to the UK, and jobs created from all FDI in to Greater Manchester. However it is not possible to publish figures at a more granular detail due to the risk of disclosing company level details. More information is available in the technical annex.